'Chelsea will be ruthless over transfer targets'

Chelsea will be "ruthless" in scouring the world for new players, Peter Kenyon said. Asked if Chelsea would bid for David Beckham, however, Kenyon replied: "Just so there's no headline, he's not available.

"We need to have a strategy, though, and if we're looking to strengthen a position we will be ruthless in scouring the world for the best player in that position. We have to be careful about this, however, because the criteria has to be, are they much better than the players we already have? Can they improve the team? Do they fit in to the longer-term team strategy?

"We have some players now who should be in the Chelsea first team for the next seven or eight years and that is a wonderful position to be in.

"We have the nucleus of the next generation of the England team.

"Those are the real strengths and that gives us the great flexibility of being more focused on the rest of the team and more focused on what size the squad needs to be. We need to move away from the perception that because a player happens to be the best striker Chelsea have to sign him whether we are strong in that position or not.

"That was unfortunately how it came across last summer but that is not how it works. There needs to be a framework because that is what brings success. Other clubs brought in as many players as we did last summer but it was the value of the players we signed which grabbed the headlines. This is a team game and ultimately we have to mould a team.

"I firmly believe that you can't just

lose your heart to football. I'm not trying to take the passion out of it because that is what the game in based on, but there has to be a strong business case for what you are doing.

"We don't want to win and go bust. A lot of our fans have supported the club man and boy and they want to be able to take the next generation to Stamford Bridge."